great editorial on our legislation

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Hospital Transparency: A Victory For Patient Safety

‘Adverse Events’ Requiring hospitals to publicly report medical mistakes is progress

July 11, 2010
Gov. M. Jodi Rell has signed into law a much-needed bill that would increase the transparency of medical mistakes at hospitals and surgical facilities. The bill repeals a confidentiality provision passed in 2004 that shamefully kept three-quarters of reported “adverse events” secret.

The law requires that after July 2011, annual reports prepared by the state Department of Public Health must include details of all reported events from wrong-site surgeries to serious falls to sexual assaults.

The report also must include “contextual information” about each hospital, including its patient caseload and patient mix, to allow for more relevant comparisons.

Hospitals in Connecticut have traditionally been hostile to such requirements. Although there is still bound to be some underreporting, the new adverse events reporting law ought to be a useful tool for the health care consumer.

It also could be an incentive for the medical community to embrace a culture of patient safety.